EPA seeks cut in truck emissions in latest climate change push

The Obama administration unveiled its newest climate change rule on Friday, calling on makers of heavy-duty trucks to hike fuel efficiency by up to 24 percent as apart of its unprecedented wave of regulations to combat greenhouse gas pollution.

The proposed rule comes ahead of EPA’s expected release this summer of landmark climate change rules for the nation’s fleet of power plants, and follows on the heels of the agency’s announcement that it plans to regulate emissions from airplanes, as well as a pact last year that President Barack Obama set with China to cap and cut the nations’ greenhouse gas pollution.

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Climate change has become a crucial legacy issue for Obama, who has touted his Climate Action Plan as an effort to shrink domestic emissions and a way to convince foreign leaders to adopt a major climate change pact later this year at a U.N. meeting in Paris.

But Republicans in Congress have seized on the issue, contending Obama’s strategy is a job killer that will raise energy prices without halting the increase in global emissions of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. GOP lawmakers in both chambers are currently pushing budget bills that would either erode or completely block the EPA plans to cut carbon pollution from electricity generators.

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla) derided the new proposal as “more of the same” from an EPA that acts beyond the scope of what Congress has authorized. The agency, he said, was wrongly using Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program to push a political agenda.

“(CAFE) has instead become another avenue for President Obama to solidify his legacy on climate change by imposing unreasonable red tape that will hurt America’s long-term economic potential and global competitiveness.” Inhofe said in a statement.

Critics have argued that the tighter rules issued Friday will increase the price of new trucks, driving up prices for food and other products or squeezing out smaller operators who can’t afford an up-front price hike for new vehicles.

The proposal from EPA and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would make heavy-duty trucks starting with 2021 model years significantly more fuel efficient. It’s a sequel to 2011 standards set by EPA requiring heavy-duty trucks in model years 2014 through 2018 to improve fuel economy by up to 20 percent.

When compared with earlier standards, the new proposed standards will force freight-hauling tractor trailers to reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions by 24 percent. Vocational vehicles, and pick-up trucks, and light vans must become 16 percent more efficient. The agencies said the proposed rule would save 1 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide and 1.8 billion barrels of oil over the life of vehicles and engines sold during the program.

“These reductions will benefit, literally, every community across the nation,” William Becker, the executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, said in a statement.

“The beauty of the proposal is that the cost of the necessary improvements, which are generally off-the-shelf technologies, will be paid for by the savings associated with the increased fuel efficiency – about one-third better than today – in a matter of a couple of years,” he added.

But many greens were disappointed by the proposal, and called for stricter emissions limits.

Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said in a statement that “analysis shows that we can reduce new truck fuel consumption 40 percent by 2025 — faster than the administration suggests. We look forward to engaging with the agencies to strengthen these standards.”

Originally intended to be finalized in March 2016, the administration now projects a January 2017 deadline to finalize the rule — meaning any delay could push the matter into the next administration.

Complying with the new truck and heavy-duty vehicle rule will cost $26.1 billion, but fuel savings and other benefits will net the U.S. economy $242 billion over the lifetime of truck model years 2018 through 2029, according to a draft regulatory impact analysis produced by EPA and the Department of Transportation. Those figures work out to an annual cost of $1.4 billion, counterbalanced by $8.7 billion a year in fuel savings and $4.9 billion a year in other benefits.

The trucking industry offered only guarded support, welcoming the efforts to help cut the consumption of diesel fuel that cost the industry $150 billion last year, though it was wary of rules that could require it to use new technology that wasn’t quite ready.

That “could slow not only adoption of these technologies, but the environmental benefits they aim to create,” said Glen Kedzie, the American Trucking Associations’ energy and environmental counsel. Truck and engine manufacturers “will need adequate time to develop solutions to meet these new standards,” he added.

But NHTSA and EPA officials said the earlier fuel efficiency rules had benefited the country, and they expect the new plan to as well.

“As a new [Council of Economic Advisors] report shows, increased fuel efficiency has produced major dividends for the national economy and for energy security,” Mark Rosekind, administrator for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, said on a conference call. “This proposal builds on that success.”

Rosekind emphasized the economy of the new standards, observing that while new tractor trailers would cost $10,000 to $12,000 more under the new standards, owners would recoup that investment in two years.

“After that, it’s money in their pocket,” he said. “These savings bring down the cost of transporting goods, consumers pocketbooks also benefit.”

Model year 2027 tractors will cost between $10,100 and $12,800 more than phase 1 tractors. New trailers, which would need to meet new standard from the 2018 model year, will cost between $1,300 and $1,400 more. These vehicles have a two-year return on investment, the agencies said.

Vocational vehicles, which refers to heavy dump trucks, trash disposal trucks, and other specialized vehicles, have the longest return on investment, at six years. These trucks will cost, on average, about $1,000 to $7,400 more for model year 2027. The agency said in a separate fact sheet that vocational vehicles generally have a longer life than other vehicles in the sector.

But the industry cast doubt on the rosy estimates.

“Recent history has shown that mandates with underestimated compliance costs result in substantially higher prices for commercial vehicles, and force fleet owners and operators to seek out less-expensive and less fuel-efficient alternatives in the marketplace,” the National Automobile Dealers Association and American Truck Dealers said in a statement. “The costs could even drive small fleets and owner-operators out of business, costing jobs and only further impeding economic growth.”